Count Drogo Holds Off Crafty Welsh Warlord

    Lee's sharp-looking Hospitallers saw their unveiling, using the Milites Christi battle board

Count Drogo sighed as Lord Merovus, High Counselor to the Frankish Emperor, lectured him about what to expect from the Welsh warband blocking their path to the coast, and home to Frankia. Even the count's dog Griffo seemed to have a downcast look about him as the Frankish noble droned on about his experience. Only Drogo's standard bearer Ranulf seemed to be paying close attention, nodding frequently and murmuring "Yes, my lord." Merovus was close to the emperor, though, and Drogo had to keep him safe in the upcoming battle. Excusing himself, he made his dispositions of his archers, spearmen, and cavalry. His wily Welsh foe would require all of his attention. 

    Joe studies his Anglo-Dane battleboard to figure out how to deal with Jason's Carthaginian elephant

We had 10 players for our September Saga game day at the Guardtower East in Columbus, OH. Two were either fairly new or brand new to Saga, so we set up a couple "mirrored matchups" (two of the same armies playing each other). I've found that it provides a good teaching game as the novice sees how the more veteran player is using his same battle board and gets ideas from it. It was also the unveiling of Lee P's newly-painted Milites Christi army from Age of Crusades. He's painted them up in the black robes of the Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John. They looked fantastic -- and it was interesting contrast seeing them arrayed against Bob B's mostly white-robed Baltic Crusaders in a civil war.

   Climactic confrontation: Baltic Crusader warlord vs. Hospitaller grand master

Other matchups included Andy S teaching Saga Version 1 player Lowell L how to use the Anglo-Saxon battleboard. Merica vs. Wessex? Either way, there were a LOT of Saxon foot on that table! Our #1 teacher, Jenny T, was introducing Jason V to the game, giving him a taste of Viking vs. Viking Dark Age warfare. Our one out-of-period matchup featured Jason S giving his Dad's Carthaginians a try against Joe M's Anglo-Danes. 

    Carthaginian advance, led by their elephant into the Anglo-Danish battle line

My opponent was Dave W, using my borrowed Welsh army. I know how tough that warband is, so I was anticipating a difficult match. I had been contemplating shelving my Carolingians, as I am not finding them as exciting to run as I'd hoped. To be at their most effective, the best tactics seem to be shooting, shooting, and more shooting. It is just a matter of maximizing my shooting and keeping the archers as safe as possible. At least that has been my impression over the last several games. I'd been contemplating a switch, but really don't know what else to play. I'd love to try the Age of Invasion Britions, Picts, or Franks from the soon-to-be-released book. Alas, I am not one of the ones gifted with an advanced look at the battle boards from Studio Tomahawk...! So, I decided to give the Carolingians another go.

    Jenny uses a Viking vs. Viking matchup to explain the basics of Saga to Jason V

We decided to play Old Feud, since it is one of the scenarios scheduled for the Advance the Colors Saga tournament. I let Dave have first pick of characters (going out of the strict setup sequence), and he chose the Princess. I picked the Counselor, though in hindsight I never would need his extra Saga die. With three of my eight dice tied up in the Proelium, I was always able to roll all of my available dice. The Counselor's "We Obey" did come in handy, though!

    Count Drogo's Carolingian warband deployed to face a wily, Welsh adversary

Dave started the terrain placement with a small woods on his side opposite my right flank, overlooking the center. I placed a Ruins in the center of the board, a little close to my edge in case he moved it towards his lines. Next, he placed a small gentle hill opposite my left. I countered with Rocky Ground facing his Woods. That ended the terrain placement, and then we began deploying troops, alternating units after placing our "Challenger" characters. Count Drogo directed Counselor Merovus into the back of the Ruins to keep him safe. After that, we had to deploy each unit within Very Short of previously deployed troops. As he probably expected, both of my large, 12-man Warrior Bow units were deployed in cover -- one in the Ruins and the other in Rocky Ground. The warrior spear were in the center, next to the ruins, and the two small units of mounted hearthguard nobles were stepped back obliquely towards the Rocky Ground.

    The Carolingian warband after turn 1 -- a formation Dave cried foul with and called "Turtle-ing!"

I showed Dave the shooting battle board abilities of the Carolingians, to give him a fair chance. He had never faced this army before (most people haven't, I think -- for some reason, very few people run Carolingians, I've found). He was a bit flabbergasted with the shooting firepower and I could tell he was struggling to think of a counter. That said, he had the perfect army to counter an opponent's battle plans. The Welsh have three Activation/Reaction abilities. These allow them to move in the opponent's turn and mess with the other player's plans. Dave would do that regularly throughout the game, and proved a very crafty opponent.

    The Welsh mounted nobles gallop forward and "Taunt" my archers into charging them

He took his first turn using Maneuver actions to move up his troops slightly, remaining outside of Long bow distance from the edge of the Ruins and Rocky Ground. On my half of the opening turn, I crept my archers to the edge of those terrain pieces, and redeployed one unit of mounted nobles to watch the right flank while the other kept an eye on the center. Ever the busybody, Counselor Merovus followed the archers in the Ruins, pointing out likely targets to the unit commander. At this point, Dave grumbled about me "turtle-ing," or sitting in my defensive positions and waiting for him to come to me. I told him it was only the first turn and to be patient. 

    A brutal melee ensued and the archers killed 7 of 8 of the mounted nobles, losing 8 of their own

Dave looked over his battleboard and had what he believed to be an "Ah-HA!" moment. On his second turn, his 8-man mounted hearthguard unit of Welsh nobles galloped up to the archers in the Rocky Ground. Dave then employed his favorite advanced Saga ability, "Taunt." This forces an enemy unit to charge a designated enemy unit. My archers came streaming out of the rocky ground, horribly offended by being called a bunch of terrapins! I wasn't that worried, though. I had loaded my battle board up the previous turn and used almost no abilities. So, I introduced him to Vinco (two automatic hits) and Potentia (rerolling up to 6 misses - as my Proelium was fully stocked on turn 1). I think Dave had a good idea, but what he should have done is Taunted my bowmen out with his warrior foot, then after we had fought and were fatigued, charged me with his mounted hearthguard. That way, he'd get the +1 bonus for javelin and would be hitting us on anything but 1's. A bloodbath ensued, and we lost 8 of 12 figures, but more importantly, the archers killed 7 of 8 of his hearthguard. Warrior bow may shoot only half of their figures, but they fight one-for-one in melee!

    Mounted nobles charge forward and chase off a unit of Welsh javelinmen, who retreat to the woods

Dave's goal, he admitted later, was simply to kill all of my archers -- no matter the cost! He moved up a unit of warriors twice, who threw javelins at the remaining four archers. Despite the heavy cover, they killed one. However, I noticed they were now fatigued. After losing to the Irish with my Moors awhile back, I've decided the thing you do to javelin-armed warriors is charge them. So, one of my units of mounted nobles hurtled forward on my turn. We used Potentia for the rerolls and our lucky Rare die for Fortis, which gave us three more attack dice, while taking three away from him. He rolled four 6's for saves, though, and lost only three figures - VERY fortunate outcome for him. We lost one rider, even though we had used his fatigue to raise our armor to 6. I pulled the nobles back to my rear, so they wouldn't get shot by his javelins. The remaining three archers shot down his last mounted hearthguard using Vinco for the two automatic hits.

    Dave continues his unwavering pursuit of his goal: Kill all the Carolingian archers!

On his turn 3, Dave kept his distance from my remaining full-strength archer unit in the ruins. Another unit of warriors came forward to relieve those who had been cut up by my mounted nobles. The damaged unit fell back to protect the Princess. In Old Feud, if one player's character is killed while his opponent's survives, they automatically lose. It doesn't matter what the score is on Massacre Points. That is used only if both characters survive or if both die.

    Meanwhile, Dave keeps his own Challenger, the Princess, safe amidst lots of potential bodyguards

On my turn 3, Count Drogo ordered the archers out of the Ruins, with the spearmen going along to protect them. Counselor Merovus was admonished to stay inside the ruins, though! Griffo growled his low-throated rumble to reinforce the count's orders, while Ranulf strained on the leash to keep the massive dog in check. The archers advanced to shoot Dave's own archers, but Dave cleverly played Evade to stay out of range. In fact, his Evade moves would frustrate not only my shooting, but also my charges in the second half of the game. The Welsh are a very fun and tactically interesting board to play. It is NOT line up and charge and roll dice. You can easily foil your opponent's plans and launch unexpected counter-attacks with their advanced Saga abilities.

    Count Drogo kept Counselor Merovus (in green cloak) hemmed in by troops to protect him

Once my archers were out of the woods, Dave's own warriors found their nerve and made a beeline for them. Two successive charges with the excellent melee abilities of the Welsh whittled down the archers to a single man. It didn't matter to Dave that his unit of warriors paid for their charges when charged by my warriors on my turn. He had succeeded in his goal. The vaunted Carolingian shooting of 24 archers was reduced to just four archers in two scattered units. I hammered his warrior javelinmen in revenge, and felt that I was comfortably ahead of points. Dave must have felts so, too, as he had one more gambit to launch. And yes, it involved "Taunt" again!

    The battlefield at game's end - both Challengers safe, but the Carolingians slightly ahead on points

Despite Count Drogo's best efforts, Counselor Merovus was not 100% safe. Dave double moved his last full-strength warrior unit to within short of my Challenger and played Taunt. I had expected something of that nature, and had kept "Defensor" active on my board (four bonus defense dice). Luckily, the position the Welsh javelinmen had to take so that Merovus could charge them put them close to one of my mounted nobles units. I would be able to use the Bodyguards rule if he would end up in Short, which luckily I could. The battle was fought, and Merovus took three hits. I used his Resilience rather than the Bodyguards rule. The javelinmen fell back. Dave tried to back them off with another move, but I used his fatigue to keep him close at hand. On my turn, the Carolingian nobles rode that unit down, punishing their impunity.

    Andy, left, and Lowell both fielded Anglo-Saxons armies in a Dark Ages civil war

It was a great back and forth game. Dave used his Activation/Reactions masterfully, and kept me from shooting and charging him throughout most of the game. His only mistake, in my opinion, was the Taunt which allowed me to take out his toughest unit, the double-strength mounted hearthguards. I ended up winning 23-17. Great game! Dave keeps getting better and better with the Welsh, which are a very deadly weapon in the hand of a clever general.

    An Anglo-Saxon civil war - Wessex vs. Merica?

We ended up having only one round of games. So, here were the full results of our game day:

• Vikings (Jenny V) defeat Vikings (Jason V) 24-16 in Clash of Warlords.
• Carthaginians (Jason S) defeat Anglo-Danes (Joe M) 13-10 in Clash of Warlords.
• Anglo-Saxons (Andy S) defeat Anglo-Saxons (Lowell L) 15-12 in Clash of Warlords.
• Baltic Crusaders (Bob B) defeat Milites Christi (Lee P) in Old Feud.
• Carolingians (Mike D) defeat Welsh (Dave W) in Old Feud, 23-17.

    Crusader crossbowmen defended an area of ruins from attacking Hospitaller sergeants

We have one more tuneup week of Saga game days (Sept. 19) at Dragons Guildhall before the first of our Saga Ohio tournaments. Hopefully, we'll get a great turnout as players get one last chance to try out the scenarios before Advance the Colors 2021.